ok ok, here is April!

I didn't quite make it to my goal, but I was SO close! I weighed myself at the end of March and I was 142.5. And then I weighed myself a couple days ago and I was 139.5!! Yay! Finally in the 130's. And I want to stay there, at least until another bambino comes along. So, I have 10.5 more lbs to lose and I am so excited to lose it and feel great! Oh, and no picture of the 130s on the scale sorry ; )

Post California and March goal

My California trip was AWESOME! So warm, so nice, so perfect. I loved almost everything about it. I was having so much fun I forgot about my new found eating habits and slipped off the wagon. But I'm back on and my goal this month of March is to be in the 130's! In fact, when I finally reach that momentous occasion I will post a picture of the scale on here. I hope it's sooner than later. Today is the 4th so I better get on it! Good luck to those out there with goals in mind!

Food Matters!

I just watched this documentary the other night and recommend it fully! What a great one. The more I learn about food and what I'm putting into my body the more I am aware of all the gross and who-knows-what things I used to put in my body! I have been changing my habits and eating more fruits and vegetables than ever before! I believe the body can be better and heal itself through food. If only I could convince one of my friends on depression medicine to try the method used in this movie.

Food Matters discusses the importance of Nutrition & Natural Therapies for helping with chronic illness. The film shows which foods and therapies are ideal for optimal health and have been proven to fight Cancer, Heart Disease, Diabetes, Depression and many more Chronic Illnesses and everyday conditions.

I hope that if anyone out there is actually reading this blog that they will take the time to watch this documentary and take a step back and look at what they are eating and putting into their body! 

Be green!

losing and happy about it!

I am losing weight slowly but surely and it feels great! I am down to 143.5 and I am hoping to be in the 130's by my trip to California next month! So, here's to staying strong, healthy, and motivated!

I completed my challenge for the day!

It wasn't as bad as I thought and I already want to keep sucking in my tummy and engaging my core so that I can have a flat stomach!

My future stomach? ; )

500, 50, 5 Challenge!!

It can be a mid-November challenge!

500 crunches- 100 reg, 100 bicycles, 200 side crunches (100 ea. side), 100 reg
50 squats
5 push ups

Every other day I will do this when I wake up before starting all the craziness of my day, Starting tomorrow,  November 15th and ending November 30th. In addition, I will be doing 30 minutes of cardio on the other days. I will either do it in the morning at 5:30 am or in the evening at 8:30 pm after the kids go to bed.

Go Fitness!!

same old same old

I had been working out 3 times a week for an hour of hard step aerobics for almost 2 months. I had lost about 8 pounds and I was looking better and feeling great! Then, in a split second misstep I sprained my ankle! It hurt soo bad! I couldn't hardly walk for 2 whole weeks. Then for 3 more weeks I always wore a brace and still limped a little bit. Then in the last week, the last maybe 5 days I haven't worn a brace at all and it feels pretty good. I still can't run without it hurting but I can jump (little jumps), finally! By the end of the night, my ankle is usually a little sore but nothing to ice over.

So, now here I am, trying to be super careful with my ankle but now wanting to really really workout. I feel like a blimp! I'm not sure where to go from here. I want to just do a really crazy workout routine and eating plan and get myself going but I want to make sure I am eating enough calories and not overdoing it to keep my already dwindling milk supply up.

What's next?

Make a plan!

1st work out back

I just finished my first work out back from "maternity leave" lol. It was good, hard, and I couldn't do everything on the list but still good. I definitely feel flubby and the need to workout more so hopefully this can become a regular thing!

Here's what I did tonight:

50 jumping jacks
50 crunches
45 jumping jacks
45 squats
40 jumping jacks
40 pushups (I only did 20)
35 jumping jacks
35 crunches
30 jumping jacks
30 squats
25 jumping jacks
25 pushups
20 jumping jacks
20 crunches
15 jumping jacks
15 squats
10 jumping jacks
10 pushups
5 jumping jacks
5 crunches
5 squats
5 pushups

so grand total of

275 jumping jacks
110 crunches
95 squats
60 pushups

Ya, I think I want to throw up now. I remember feeling this way after my first run after I had Hannah. Boy am I going to feel this tomorrow!

5 weeks Post baby and still the same....

Well, I guess it's a good thing but I'm still at 154.5. I know I don't need to worry about "losing weight" so until later, like, months later, I am just going to update every once in a while to post my weight and inches lost/stayed the same.

11 days post partum

Well, here I am! My little boy is 11 days old and as cute as can be! I am feeling so great besides major sleep deprivation and thought it would be good to document my weight for fun for the next 5 weeks while I can't exercise.

I went all the way up to 168 and when I got home from the hospital I was 160 (3 days post)

Yesterday I weighed myself and I was 154.5 so that's 13.5 lost and about 8.5 to go if I'm going to be back to 146ish like I was right before I got pregnant.

I'm not going to diet right now but I am amazed at how self conscious I already feel about my body. Sometimes I feel like pregnancy was a get out of jail free card because I didn't have to worry about how I looked or if I was having a "fat day" because I was pregnant! I feel like people are already judging my stomach and the rest of my body. I don't have that safety of being pregnant. Now if someone saw me they could just think I was a chubby mom. Don't worry, I wont let other people determine how I feel about myself. But I am noticing the stigma out there that there is so much pressure on women to look thin, even after just having a baby.

So, for the next 5 weeks I am just going to relax with my kids and heal from having a baby and then maybe I'll start to exercise ; )

Feeling a little big!

I am feeling big and the belly's a growin'! I haven't been as regular with my exercise as I was hoping I would be. Somehow, after I stopped watching my 2 nephews over the summer my energy levels went down, and my exercise motivation kind of left. haha! But I am doing pretty good weight wise, at 159 lbs. I just hope I can keep up with my exercise that's a few days a week instead of the 5 I was hoping for. I think I'm doing pretty good anyway!

26 weeks and gaining

I don't remember feeling like such a whale at this point in my pregnancy with Hannah but maybe it's because I wasn't chasing anybody around all day and feeling "the waddle". I have been sick since Wednesday and it's been quite the uneventful week; laying around, reading books (children one's, of course) and not getting any housework done. Perfect, NOT! So, I decided today that although I am not 100%, I am done being sick! I need to get back on the band wagon and workout and eat right (and clean my house!) or I really will be a whale when the baby is born! I weighed myself this afternoon (I usually weigh myself in the morning)and I weighed a whoppin' 159! Good grief. I decided to weigh myself in the morning tomorrow just for comparison sake because I can't believe I've gained 10 lbs in the last 10 weeks! At this rate I will be gaining a lot before I actually give birth so I need to remember to keep my healthy foods close and my not so healthy foods a walk away! Total weight gain so far this pregnancy is 12.5 lbs according to when I first found out...Ok...That doesn't sound as bad. And I'm more than half-way there so phew!

16 1/2 weeks!

So far so good! I have been keeping up my activity level, which is easy to do when you have 3 kids you are taking care of most of the day. I weighed myself this morning and was 149 so another gain, but not too much so that's good. I want to gain weight, just not tons. I need to keep telling myself that! It's hard to change my mindset about the scale but then I look in the mirror and see that my baby is growing (and so is my belly!) and it's easy again. I know I need to keep eating healthy foods and exercising and getting good sleep and it will all be good. So there's the ol' update : )

weigh-in

Right now it's 10:30 and I'm eating a bowl of fruit loops. I know, I'm terrible. Luckily this is not my usual routine and I've been trying to eat healthier during my pregnancy. I moved and haven't weighed myself for a couple weeks and thought I'd get on the scale this morning to see how I'm doing. I weighed in at 148.5 which is an increase of 2 lbs since last month. Pretty lame if you ask me but I am ok with gaining weight now that I'm in my 2nd trimester. And all the books say you gain between 0-3 lbs the first trimester anyway so I'm good. Anyway, just wanted to mark my progress.

Kumquat

I have been staying at 146.5 for the last few weeks but I have a feeling it's not going to last too much longer. I'm pregnant!! Of course, the two readers out there that have read my blog in the past already know but for document purposes and for fun I must post about it! I have been sick and tired and no energy after chasing my crazy toddler all day. I have still been trying to walk every day but it's more like every other day. I have a goal of staying really on top of my exercise while the weather is still nice because the last couple months of pregnancy will be filled with cold and snow.

When I was 145 lbs I had finally made my goal of a healthy BMI! I didn't even post about it darn it! Now, I am a little over healthy range for BMI (146.5) but I think I will still maintain a goal of a 25 lb weight gain.

It's hard to think I will now be gaining weight again after all this losing I've been trying to do...I would like to maintain my weight until the 2nd trimester and then start gaining. I'm not going to try and lose by any means, just eat healthier regular portions.

Oh and baby future is the size of a kumquat, cute little thing!

tired and up 2 lbs! : (

I have been exhausted the last few weeks to say the least. My workouts have been hard to do and farther between. I have thankfully been walking most days for at least a 1/2 hour with my dog and babe so that's keeping me going somewhat. So, the 2 lbs isn't too alarming for me. I think it's just because I'm bloated and so when that tones down a bit I think I will be back to 145 or close to.

Tuesday

I weighed myself today and I was 145! An all time low since the birth of my babe. I have been concentrating on eating healthy foods, listening to my body, and exercising. I want to be healthy!

Hovering

I have been hovering the last several days at 146-146.5. I am feeling pretty good about maintaining but I also want to see if I can lose just like 5 more lbs. We'll see. I want to concentrate more on eating only good, healthy foods and not over-eating. That is the key!

Thursday

I wouldn't really call what I'm doing a cleanse so I am not going to title it as a cleanse. I'm thinking of it more like calorie restricting. Anyway, yesterday I was very motivated and stayed within my calorie limit and I went to Zumba, a crazy dance exercise class, that was very fun! So, I got on the scale this morning and what did it say?

145.5!

I know I have exclamation points after each loss but it's just so wonderful to be motivated enough to get these extra pounds off, finally!

2nd cleanse day 1

Day 1, yesterday, went great! I wasn't too hungry and when I got on the scale I weighed....

147 pounds!

That is great because yesterday when I weighed myself I weighed a whoppin' 149 lbs! Ekk!!

I definitely don't want to see the 150s again so I'm glad I'm doing this.

Here's to Day 2 (out of three)!!

Hungry!

I don't know why, but I have been soo hungry today! I don't know if it's because I'm just giving in to cravings or what but today has not been a good day. And I also think, now that I'm remembering, that when I weighed myself today I was 148, even after 40 minutes on the elliptical last night. That is probably why I am not so motivated today. I told my hubs that I don't know if I can just do calorie counting. So I think I'm going to do a 3 day cleanse, starting tomorrow. I want to keep losing weight and if I can lose more that would make me very happy. I think I need to start exercising every day too. So here's to tomorrow.

p.s. no more eating for tonight either! : )

Weigh-in (Post Cabin)

I went up to my family's cabin this weekend and it was a lot of fun. It snowed a lot too! While there on Friday I stuck to my 1300 calories. Saturday was a different matter. I had 3 brownies! and ate Way too much! So now, luckily, it was Fast Sunday. I was able to refocus and get back on track. I think cheat days here and there are okay but I don't want to get crazy or anything!

I weighed myself this morning thinking I was going to be heavier and freaking out about it BUT...

147.5! Yipee!

I'm glad I didn't gain anything from my crazy Saturday. Also, bummer that I didn't lose but that's okay. I am still on the ball with losing it!

weigh-in

I weighed in this morning and I am very happy!

starting weight: 154.5
current weight: 147.5!
lbs lost so far: 7

Yes! Just what I needed to see. I am so excited. I haven't weight this little since October of 2009! This is such a great booster to keep going so I can get closer to my goal weight!

Day after Cleanse

I am kind of afraid to gain back the weight but now it's easier to feel hungry and not eat, which I think is what I need to be feeling in order to lose weight. If I eat every time I feel hungry then I wont lose any weight....

Yesterday's weight:
starting weight: 154.5
current weight: 149.5
lbs lost so far: 5

Still five pounds, but still five pounds! And here's the menu from yesterday. I took a class from 5-9 and so I didn't really eat any dinner, hence the bad dinner foods. Also, I didn't get very many fruits and used a lot of my calories on one of my snacks...Food choices people! The less calories=the more you can eat!

Breakfast:
2 eggs: 160
1 c swiss chard: 7
1 piece white bread toasted: 100
1 tsp butter: 34

Snack:
7 cheeseballs: 10 (I know...I know...)

Lunch:
2 pieces wheat bread: 280
1 tbs peanut butter: 100
1 tbs jam: 40
vegetable soup: 100 (Just guessing)

Snack:
1/2 c mint chocolate chip ice cream: 160!

Dinner:
1 Larabar: 150
Apple sauce: 50
Rock Candy: 50

Snack:

5 wheat thins: 50

Total: 1291

Not too bad. I would like to stay around 1300-1400 calories while incorporating better food choices of course. Also, if you see any discrepancies in my calories just let me know!

Final weigh-in for cleanse

So, yesterday was my last day of The Cleanse. It went pretty well. I still have tons of soup left and I only used one can of diced tomatoes. So I guess I will finish the soup off for the next few days.

now for the weights:
starting weight: 154.5
current weight: 149.5
lbs lost so far: 5

Not too bad, and I'm still under 150, which I never want to see again!

Things I've learned after/during this cleanse:
-I eat too much food
-I eat too much unhealthy food
-I am an emotional eater ( I already knew that but it helped it surface again)
-I am a snacker and need to stop!
-I didn't mind terribly all the vegetables I had to eat!


Overall, this was a good cleanse. I think if I wouldn't have cheated at all I would'v lost more weight but that's ok. It was a good jump start. Also, when I only have 5 more lbs to lose I think I will do the cleanse again to get them off fast!

So what's the plan now? I think I'll just keep counting calories, for everything, and posting it here. It seems to keep me on track with life. Until next time!

The Cleanse-Day 7

Yay! I'm done! Well, almost. Tomorrow I will be done.

Here's the low down for today:

Breakfast: none, I wasn't even hungry! I think it was from all the bad stuff I ate the night before
Lunch: Vegetable soup
Snack: A couple little bites of Hannah's Larabar
Dinner: Vegetable soup, 1 chicken nugget, 1 piece of bread. I got hungry...

Hopefully I lost some weight today! I did a little working out so we'll see for tomorrow!

weigh-in

Well, I guess I knew what was coming for me!

starting weight: 154.5
current weight: 149.5
lbs lost so far: 5.0

So, no loss, a small gain but I really can't really be mad because I brought it on myself. So today I'm sticking to the plan of a soup. Here are the recipe details:

2-3 Large Onions Chopped

1 Head of Cabbage Chopped

1 Green Pepper Chopped

5-6 Celery Stalks Chopped

2 Lg. Cans Diced Tomatoes (I like those with basil, oregano,

garlic)

2 Pkgs. Lipton Beefy Onion Soup Mix

Put the chopped vegetables in pan and pour in tomatoes that

have been slightly blended in the blender. Then put in about

4-6 cups water to barely cover the vegetables. Cook for about

10 minutes then add the Beefy Onion Soup Mix and cook until

all the vegetables are tender.

Hopefully I can lose that 1/2 pound again and maybe even another 1/2 pound!

The cleanse- Day 6

Today was been good and bad. First the good!

Breakfast: sauteed greens and cabbage and chicken
Lunch: steamed carrots and zuchinni and a handful of noodles. (Noodles are not part of the "plan" but I couldn't resist hot noodles in front of me! They were for Hannah)

Now the bad...

Dinner: baked turkey, with vegetables. 7 mini-muffins....I made blueberry muffins for Danny and Hannah and couldn't resist. Next time, no muffins...

Now the worst...

When I was at YW a leader brought out cookies, and I didn't take one and didn't have any intention to. But Hannah was following the leader around saying, "cookie, cookie". So I got one and I'm not about to let my 1 1/2 yr old eat an entire no bake cookie at 8 pm! So I ate like 1/2 of the cookie. I was mad about the cookie but got over it quickly.

Then when I got home I ate a handful of cheese balls and then Danny came home with a resses peanut butter shake and I ate the whole thing! All 12 oz! I am terrible. I feel gross and bloated. I did do some chores around the house but I highly doubt I will lose any weight tomorrow and I wouldn't be surprised if I gain weight. Lame. Tomorrow will be better, no cheating.

Food for Day 7 is this cleansing soup. Hopefully it will be yummy!

weigh-in

Well, I guess it doesn't pay off to cheat....

starting weight: 154.5
current weight: 149.0
lbs lost so far: 5.5

Oh well. With only 2 day's left, including today I don't really think I will lose the 10-17 lbs promised by the weight loss menu. But these 5.5 and hopefully more in the next couple days has really given me a good jump start.

Today's plan is 10-12 oz turkey/chicken and veggies. I'm sticking to it this time. I want to lose more!

The Cleanse- Day 5

I couldn't do it. I couldn't swallow another tomato, yuck! But before then I did great.

Breakfast: 3 oz chicken, 1 tomato
Lunch: 7 oz chicken, 1 tomato
Dinner: Summer chicken salad from Zupas, 1 strawberry (not chocolate covered), and a roll with butter.

I felt so much better afterward. I'm not sure if it's because I hadn't eaten much or what but I was WAY ornery and I knew that if all the family was going to be eating Zupas I had no chance to just sit there. I'm lucky I didn't cave and eat the chocolate on the strawberry. It was close!

So, I kind of fouled up today but I guess we'll see how my weigh-in goes tomorrow. I all reality I didn't eat that many calories but I also didn't do much exercise either, except chasing my kid around and walking through a museum.

Tomorrow will be better: 10-12 oz chicken/turkey and vegetables. I like that better. Veggies! Also, I am going to make my vegetable soup that's supposed to be for day 7 tomorrow night so I can have it starting in the morning. I am a major morning eater, can't do anything until I get my food!

weigh-in

Starting weight: 154.5
Current weight: 149.0
lbs lost so far: 5.5

I am happy with today's results! I can't believe I'm in the 140s again! woohoo! I vow to not be in the 150s again, unless I'm pregnant. I'm so excited and I'll just have to remember my weight loss goals as I go through today.

Day 5: I can have 10-12 oz chicken/turkey and as many as 6 tomatoes. Ugh...I'm not a tomato lover anyway so we'll see how today goes...wish me luck!!

The Cleanse-Day 4

Yay for day 4! I have actually quite enjoyed today. I like milk and I like bananas, and surprisingly I'm not so sick of them at this point that I wouldn't throw up if I had another. My stomach is making all sorts of rumblings though so I'm not quite sure what's going to happen, hopefully nothing. Here's a lowdown of my consumption today:

Breakfast: Banana milkshake (1 banana, 1 c milk, ice)
Snack: 1/2 banana
Lunch: 1 banana, 1 c milk
Snack: 1/2 banana, 1 c milk
Dinner: 1 c milk, 2 bananas sliced so I could feel like I was eating the yummy oven baked potatoes with all the fixin's like my family.
Snack: Banana milkshake identical to breakfast. Although I put the milk in the freezer for about 20 minutes before and it was better than breakfast because it was colder.

I could definitely feel the lack of calories that I was getting today. I never got dizzy or lightheaded but I felt tired around dinner time and a little out of it. That's the only time I had weird symptoms though.

I'm not looking forward to tomorrow but hopefully it wont be too bad. I'll just drink lots of water. Also, it's only 1 day so it can't be that bad!

weigh-in

Starting weight: 154.5
Current weight: 150.0
lbs lost so far: 4.5

Okay okay, that's great! I can't help but be a little dissapointed about not being under 150 but that's okay. For sure, I will be tomorrow. Also, today on a side note, it snowed SO much! Yesterday was so nice and we were outside without our shoes. My, how a day can change things, or as my sis-in-law said, we have bi-polar weather here!

Today I can have as many as 8 bananas and as many as 8 glasses of milk. Let's see how creative I can be :)

The Cleanse- Day 3

Day three...I was feeling okay on my energy level today but I am so tired right now. It is almost midnight so that could be taken into consideration. Fruits and veggies today, which was nice, but I'm so sick of them right now. I can't wait until tomorrow when I can make banana smoothies!
Here's the food for today, or what I can remember, I didn't write it down.
Breakfast: strawberry, orange juice, ice, spinach shake
Snack: 1 cantaloupe
Lunch: sauteed swiss chard, yellow peppers, peas
Dinner: grapes, chicken noodle soup


What?? Chicken noodle soup?? Yes. My wonderful mother-in-law made chicken noodle soup and I was off running errands and couldn't make my dinner. And she had already put some in a bowl for me, in front of me. I ate a very small bowl and it was mostly chicken, carrots and broth, and of course, was very very delicious. And I didn't eat any of the rolls with yummy butter and jam... : (

Snack: more grapes and strawberries!

As I've done this cleanse I've really begun to notice all the things I used to eat when I was eating whatever I wanted. No wonder I can't lose weight and I'm gaining weight. I snack, a lot! I am also a major snacker at my in-laws because they have lots of snacks, and unhealthy ones to make it worse! This cleanse has helped me realize how much I did eat, and all the random times I would eat. Also, I'm eating tons more healthy food than before.

The Cleanse-Day 2

Today has been tough! My honey buns said it would be hard but I didn't realize how hard! It's 9:15 p.m. and I am tired and feeling like I want a snack but like last night, anything but vegetables (or yesterday- fruit)!! I did cheat a little bit but I was starving! So, here's the lowdown:

Breakfast: cucumber
Lunch: sauteed orange pepper, frozen peas, collard greens
Snack: 2 lion house recipe meatballs about 2 in in diameter. I was just so starving that I needed to eat something substantial and I couldn't let the meatballs go to waste (Danny won't eat them, too many onions) They were SOO good!
Dinner: steamed red cabbage, yellow pepper, and collard greens. potato with butter and refried beans. I'm not sure if the refried beans are part of the diet but they were delicious!

Tomorrow I get a little more variety with my cleanse: Day 3-Same as day 1 and 2 but no potato : ( I am excited to make veggie/fruit shakes. I'm pretty sure I'm going to have one in the morning with ice. Yummy!

starting weight: 154.5
current weight: 150.5
lbs lost so far: 4

So I'm not as enthusiastic about today's weigh in but I knew that 3+ pounds yesterday was some water. I just hope that my weight loss is a little more tomorrow, like 1 pound. Maybe the meatballs had something to do with my weigh in....Here's to day 3!

The Cleanse -Day 1

Well, Day 1 was pretty good. I didn't feel hungry for most of the day and then towards the end of the day around 9ish I was feeling hungry for snacky foods; chips, crackers, cereal. This is when I would usually eat those. I didn't feel like eating more fruit AT ALL. I didn't give in and was good the whole day! Yay! Here's a break-down:

Breakfast: Apple, peaches
Snack: Strawberries
Lunch: Mixed fruit
Dinner: Cantelope and grapes. I also ate 2 beans from a bean pod without thinking but I don't think that will effect me in any way.

Now, one of the reasons I wanted to do this cleanse was to give my body a fresh start and "cleanse" it if you will of all the bad things I've been eating like chocolate cake donuts, oreos, and cookies. The other reason is for weight loss. I don't want to be pregnant and weigh so much! I just can't fathom the fact. So until I do become pregnant I am on the serious track to healthy weight loss. Now on to weights:

starting weight: 154.5
current weight: 151
lbs lost so far: 3.5

Not too bad right?! I know a lot of it is water weight but I don't need that extra water weighing me down anyway. And those numbers are great motivators for me to keep going! Just the thought of being that close to being in the 140's again makes me really excited.

Day 2 is eat only vegetables, including 1 potato with butter! Also, to try and avoid peas, corn, and dry beans (for their calories). We'll see how I can handle it!

The Cleanse

Alright, so I decided to do the cleanse.

Today, Day 1, is all fruits, except bananas. So here we go!

So far today I've had a medium apple and 1 c bottled peaches. I need to go to the store so hopefully this cleanse will help me pick some yummy deliciously healthy foods!

March 30th

No exercise today but I didn't eat tons of junk either so that's good right? I think I might try a cleanse I saw on this website starting tomorrow. I've never been one for cleanses based on the fact that if something says you shouldn't eat all the healthy foods out there something's not right. But it's only 7 days and I figure I can do something for 7 days, right? I'll let you know tomorrow whether I'm on or off that wagon ride.

In sadder news, relatively, I checked my approximate body fat on a website and it said I was like 38% or some crazy amount and that if I wanted a toned stomach I would have to lose 25 pounds which coincidentally is how much I want to lose! I want to be 125 lbs and not have a muffin-top belly. So here's to a cleanse and a healthier me!